Fiberboard storage units generally include a shell for housing a storage compartment or insert that can be a drawer or a unit of partitions. The shell itself generally includes four sides and possibly an open end when a drawer is to be housed therein. The drawer front generally encloses the open end of the shell. When the storage compartment insert is a unit of partitions, such as a unit with vertical and horizontal partitions forming a grid, such insert is designed to be stationarily positioned within the shell during use; i.e., it is not generally moved out or in during use. Such a grid insert therefore is generally not fronted. It has at least a forward open end to allow access to the contents within. Such storage units, therefore, preferably include a means for enclosing the front of the shell itself, such as a door.
When these storage units, or at least the shell thereof, are formed with fiberboard (the preferable construction material for inexpensive office storage units), enclosing the front of the shell with a conventional door has distinct disadvantages. Conventional doors require hinges and closure hardware, increasing the cost of the unit and the weight thereof. The hinges need to be connected to the fiberboard sides of the shell, and securement of any conventional fastening means, such as that formed of metal, to a fiberboard unit diminishes the structural integrity of that unit.
Moreover, fiberboard storage units are designed specifically to be light in weight. A conventional door, when swung outwardly to the side of the unit, tends to unbalance the storage unit and requires a significant amount of forward space. Forming the door and units with a center opening reduces the amount of forward space necessary to open these storage units, but requires the storage shell to be hinged at both sides, multiplying the adverse effects of hinging to a fiberboard shell. A shell may be less unbalanced if the door opened upwardly or downwardly, but a downward opening door would block simultaneous access to a storage unit below, and an upwardly opening door would be inefficient unless it could be swung backwards over the top of the shell, an impossible arrangement if the storage units are stacked one on top of the other.
A storage unit for a plurality of partitions that are to remain stationary during use could, of course, be constructed without a front door. However, the type of documents generally stored therein, such as blue prints and the like, would become dusty and could be damaged by being stored open.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a storage unit for documents and the like, including a shell, in combination with an insert that can remain stationary, wherein an improved means for enclosing the end of the storage unit is provided. It is an object of the present invention to provide such a storage unit with a front enclosure that does not swing out from the storage unit when access is desired. It is an object of the invention to provide such a storage unit with a door that requires no conventional hinges or other means of securement that perforate the sides of the unit, particularly a storage unit formed of fiberboard or the like. It is a further object of the invention to provide a storage unit including a shell that is reinforced with a channeled frame whereby the means for opening and closing the door are formed on the frame rather than on the fiberboard portion of the storage unit. It is a further object of the invention to provide an insert that is aligned both with the frame and the means for guiding the door so that no shoulder is formed rearward of the frame or guided means that would hamper access to documents stored behind them.